


a night to remember

by unrequitedexistence



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F, berena - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-17 00:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8124445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrequitedexistence/pseuds/unrequitedexistence
Summary: The phone rings in the middle of the night. There has been a slight accident and Serena needs to look after Bernie. The blonde is high as a kite... or is she?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



The high-pitched sound should have startled her, but she had returned from a nerve-wrecking shift not long ago and the racket from the ward was still playing in her head, _loud and clear_. It was almost as if her mind had yet to catch up, believing the comfort offered by the mattress to be a daydream or perhaps even a tactile hallucination.

Sometimes she fell asleep to diagnoses, debating symptoms with imaginary patients that were never at their pleasantest. Her last conscious thought would be that she was no longer responsible for them and so she would walk away without engaging their antics, falling victoriously asleep.

She reached blindly for her ringing cellphone, finding the familiar shape with the ease of someone who has been sleeping with it by her side for years. She had once been the queen of misplacing the gadget, but the divorce had brought her to and kept her on her toes.

She answered the call with her face still half buried in her pillow, not bothering with even glancing at the caller’s identification. If it happened to be a mistake, she would easily doze off again, having had no interaction with any source of light.

“Hello?” Her voice was muffled by the pillow. One could tell that she was beyond exhausted, but there were no traces of resentment for having been awoken or of anxiety, considering it was rather late for a social call.

“Serena Campbell?”

The tone coming from the other side of the line made her open her eyes and reach for the lamp that stood on her bedside table. It sounded too _official_ to be good. The person calling her was a bearer of bad news, or at least troubling ones – Serena could _feel_ it.

Her first thought was of Jason, but she quickly reminded herself that she had checked on him when she had first arrived. He was sound asleep in his bed, a content smile on his face as he wandered through the world of dreams, of the _fantastic_.

Elinor. When had they last spoken? It hadn’t been that long ago, had it? She recalled having had to contact a friend of the family because of a possible visit to… had it been Italy? She couldn’t quite remember. She made a mental note to call her daughter before acknowledging the other name that had immediately come to mind.

 _Bernie_.

“Yes?”

She sat up, bracing herself for impact. _Expect the worst, anything else is a bonus_.

“I’m calling on behalf of Berenice Wolfe. There has been an accident.”

Her mouth went dry, her throat felt as though it was closing up and her lungs burned as she held her breath. She was aware that carefully measured words were being flung at her, but all she heard before hanging up was the name of the hospital Bernie had been taken to.

Her heart sounded the alarm and suddenly her muscles felt as light as feathers, adrenalin rushing through her veins. She all but floated to her closet, changing into the first thing she found and deemed appropriate.

She would have been able to adjust the planet’s orbit with her bare hands, if needed be. She was a woman on a mission and nothing could stop her from getting to her… _friend_. Even the apocalypse would have been found hunched and shaking in a corner.

 _It’s nothing serious_.

At first she hadn’t acknowledged the words because they had been spoken in a reassuring tone that hadn’t at all agreed with the one established by _accident_. Her brain had labeled them as irrelevant, but they were coming back to her now, manifesting themselves, demanding to be noticed, as she sat through a red light.

 _She can’t stay on her own tonight_.

She was starting to feel slightly calmer under the bright light that instructed her to _stop_ , colors invading the black and white picture she had painted at first. Bernie was being discharged, that was good, _great_ even. If she needed someone to look after her, they could be thinking concussion. She must have fallen.

 _Of course_ she had fallen, probably while running through the rain on barely illuminated streets that most of the world’s population would have avoided in the first place, even during the day.

This was _Major_ _Berenice Wolfe_ , though. She didn’t evade danger, danger evaded her.

“She _vehemently_ refused to be taken to Holby City.” The young doctor explained as he walked Serena to where Bernie was being kept under close watch. “It was not until we had her on painkillers that she divulged your name and number.”

The first thing Serena noticed was that Bernie was… well, _high as a kite_ , really. She looked positively giddy, mischief written all over her face, a twinkle in her eye…

As soon as she approached the bed the other woman reached for her hand, intertwining their fingers and pulling her closer.

“I am so glad to see you.” She said, her tone low and intimate, her thumb stroking the brunette’s.

Serena had not been expecting the outburst of affection. There had been a lot of dodging going on since the toast to their _undeniable sexual chemistry_. Bernie’s filters were currently down, though, and she was staring into Serena’s eyes as if she believed nothing else to be true, nothing else to be worthy of her attention, of her _devotion_.

“If all you wanted was to see me, you should have just called.” Serena started, affectionately squeezing the blonde’s hand. “No need for the dramatics.” She added, gesturing to the visible gashes on her exposed arm.

“I will keep that in mind for the next time.”

Serena held the blonde’s gaze in silence for an eternity or two before reaching out and moving the loose strands of hair away from her face so that she could access the damage. Her fingertips traveled delicately over the other woman’s skin, almost as if she were afraid she would break under her touch. She had a single cut above her eyebrow, but it didn’t seem too deep, even if it had required three stitches. Apart from that, the hand holding hers felt rough, a bruise starting to form above a scratched elbow. She must have landed on her side when she fell.

“How bad is it?” Bernie enquired quietly, having spent the appraisal studying Serena’s reactions. The brunette’s face had remained soft, her eyes as careful and as warmhearted as her touch.

“I’ve seen much worse.” Serena offered with a sympathetic smile, caressing Bernie’s cheek. “You will be as good as new in no time.”

“Evasive.” The blonde murmured, eyes closed, humming in response to the warmth by then spreading from her face to her toes.

“I am sorry to have kept you waiting.” The young doctor announced before starting on his task of getting Serena up to speed on what had happened since Bernie had been admitted – quite a few hours earlier, she soon learned.

Serena could see Bernie pout from the corner of her eye, obviously missing the attention the doctor had stolen from her. The blonde entertained herself by playing with Serena’s fingers before getting distracted by what the brunette was wearing. She had been so focused on the other woman’s face that she had yet to take in the unusual attire.

“You are wearing sweatpants.” She announced, delight obvious in her voice. “And _plaid_.” She used her free hand to feel the texture. “Serena Campbell in a plaid cotton shirt. Now that’s a sight for sore eyes!”

“I was in bed, Bernie, and my emergency gown is at the cleaner’s.” Serena replied, sarcasm soft but evident in her voice, swatting gently at the hand pulling on her shirt.

“Oh, you didn’t wait for me?”

Serena was more than used to this game they played, even if the medication had brought it to a whole new level, but the smile Bernie used to punctuate her question caught her off guard. There was amusement, sure, but was there also… _longing_? Could it be that Bernie was hiding behind the high?

 _Wishful thinking_. Or was it?

“I wasn’t aware I was supposed to.” Serena raised an eyebrow questioningly, examining her friend’s face. The other woman didn’t even flinch under her gaze.

“Now you do.” It was a _matter-of-fact_ statement – _as simple as that_.

Serena didn’t know what to make of it. She knew she shouldn’t even be indulging herself, it was a dangerous path to take and it led straight to disappointment. _Casual flirting_ was one thing, Berenice Wolfe with her guard down inviting herself to her bed was another, and definitely not as _harmless_.

“Right.” The doctor intervened, clearing his throat. _Saved by the bell_. “I am going to get your partner’s… Huh, your friend’s… Well, Ms. Wolfe’s papers.”

“Oh, we _are_ partners.” Bernie replied before Serena even had time to make sense of what was being said. “In crime, _amongst other things_.” The tone was as suggestive as the wink that followed it.

For Shiraz’s sake, what in the name of bloody hell was Bernie playing at?

“You okay there, Fräulein? You’re looking rather _flushed_.”

Serena rolled her eyes, at the blonde and at herself, blaming exhaustion and stress for getting wounded up so easily.

“Oh, you are insufferable.”

“You love me.”

It was a declaration, a request, a plea, a question… it was everything and nothing and all there is in between…

“If only they prescribed medication for that!”

She felt as if she had fallen down the rabbit hole. Nothing made sense, or perhaps too much sense, or at least the sense she wanted, _needed_ , craved even. And her night, _their_ night, had barely even started…

**Author's Note:**

> I took Ames78's prompt for a walk in the woods and this happened (I almost fell and broke my neck, but that's beside the point). There's going to be a second chapter in bed... for science... and soon.


End file.
